Means for securing railroad-rails to road-beds.



R. WAPLES MEIWS FUR SECURING RAILROAD. RAILS T0 ROAD BEDS.

APPLICATION FILED Al1,G.6. 19H. 1,260,?36. Patented MELT. 26,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I- R. WAPLES. MEANS FOR SECURING RAILROAD RAILS T0 ROAD BEDS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.6. 191i.

Patented Mar. 26, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

RUFUS WAIPLES, OF WAYNE, PENNSYLV MEANS FOR SECURING RAILROAD-RAILS TO ROAD-BEDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented ar. 26, rare.

Application filed. August 6, 1917. Serial No. 184,645.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Burns Warm-3s, a c1t1- zen of the United States, residing in Wayne,

' Delaware county, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Means for Securing Railroad-Rails to Road-Beds, of which the followin is a specification.

My invention re ates to certain improvements in the means for securing rails in position on a roadbed.

One object of the invention is to provide means for securing the rails directly to the ballast or the' permanent bed of the railroad.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for vertically adjusting the rails by wedges located on the ballast and which support the rails. A still further object of the invention is to provide adjustable means for securing the rails to the ballast without disturbing the ballast.

In railways of the present construction, the weight of the rolling stock consolidates and solidifies the roadbed, and'when ties are used constant tamping is required which disturbs the bed. My improved construction allows for the adjustment of the rails to gage or grade without disturbing the ballast or road bed and thus the ballast forms a firm anchora e and supporting bed for the wedge-shaped blocks, which carry the rails, and these blocks may be driven up in surfacin the track without disturbing the ballast.

IBy the use of my improvement, the supporting blocks or wedges may be placed comparatively close together, as it is unnecessary to tamp the bed under the blocks, as has heretofore been deemed necessary in the use of ties.

The universal practice of tamping under the cross ties is -now considered objectionable, in that many of the ballast units are turned on edge or broken into small frag ments and the movement of the rails, due to the use of the present heavy equipment, turns these units to a horizontal position, giving space to play, which grows until the tampmg must be repeated.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a 'lan view of 'suflicient of-a railroadbed to i lustrate my invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 2-2, Fig. 1; v

Fig.3 is a transverse sectional view on the ne 15 g of the cars passing over the tracks,

Fig. 4 is a detached erspective view illustrating one of the anc or plates;

Fig. 5 is a detached perspective view of one of the annular coupling members;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing the insulated joint;

Fig. 7 is a plan view illustrating a modification of the invention;

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view on the line 88, Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a view of a modification of the mems for securing the rod and bar together; an

Fig. 10 is a modification of the construction shown in Fig. 7

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the foundation made of ordinary earth properly graded. 2 is the roadbed, which, in the present instance, consists ,of a compact mass of broken stone, as shown. These stones are preferably trap rock and the edges are sharp so that they will be compacted by the running of trains and will hold together as a mass, resisting the weight and pressure as b the useof my invention they will never bl; loosened and tamped to support the track. Where stone is not available, clay, properly compacted, may be used with or without stone slabs or iron plates.

3, 3 are the rails spaced a given distance apart and located under these rails are the wedges 4 and between the upper surfaceof the wedges and the rails are metallic plates 5, which are preferably spiked to the wedges after adjustment. The upper surface of the ballast is preferably horizontal at the center w and inclined at each side y, forming an inclined bed for the wedges 4, the upper surfaces of the wedges being horizontal. The wedges are preferably rounded at the narrow end so that they can be forced over the surface of the ballast when it is desired to raise either rail. While the upper inclined surface of the ballast may consist of com-' pacted stone, I preferably lay a surface of asphalt, or other suitable material, which will form a comparatively smooth bed at this portion of the ballast and this material also acts as a waterproof surface so as to preventrain water from entering the ballast to an appreciable extent. While this material mayonly extend over the inclined surface of the ballast, in some instances, it ma be continued over the horizontal portion w ere which exten end of the curve. The bar extends t a in ig. 5.

a roadbed that is absolutely waterproof is desired. It is well understood that if water be kept from the permanent bed 1, there is little trouble in keeping the foundation in the ends of the bar are anchors 9, the bars being turned up at 10 to rest back of the anchors. These anchors may be fastened to the bars in many difit'erent ways. The barsare bent, as at 10, in the form of a curve, in the present instance, and there is an anchor 11 at one end of the curve and an angular coupling member 12 at the opposite rough a hole 13 in this member, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The anchors are located s'ufli- .ciently below the upper surface of the ballast so that an lateral strains on the bed will be resiste by the ballast. -Furthermore, it will be noticed that the anchors are located under the wed es so that when a train is passing over t e tracks, which is the only time that the bar is subjected to strains, the weight of the train will keep the anchors in place.

The angular couplin members, as shown inthe drawings, are ocated at each end of the horizontalportion 7 of the bar 6 and between the rails 3. These coupling mem 'bers take the strain of the outward thrust on the rails and are made sufliciently strong to resist this strain. In the present instance, the may have side ribs 14, as clearly shown The bolts 15 extend from the coupling members to the outer flanges of the rails. These bolts are booked at 16 so as to engage these flanges and whereit is desired to msulate the'joint between the rod and the coupling, I rovide an insulating sleeve 17 through the opemng 18 and is flanged, as shown, so as to form a bearin for the 'nuts 19, which are on the threade portion of the hooked bolt 15, By turning these nuts in one direction the rail 3 can be moved toward the center of the track and by turning the nuts in the opposite direction the rail i allowed ,to be moved outward. The greatest side strain placed on the rail is the strain outward, especially when the train asses around curves. These bolts 15 are 0 sufficient strength. to resist these strains. The bolts have a loose fit in the openings in the angular couplings to allow for adjustments.

In order to hold the inner flange of the rail down to its seat, Iprovide additional anchors consisting of an inclined rod 20 having an anchor 21 at its outer end embedded in the ballast, and, in the present instance, turned at an angle M22 and perforated for the passage of a short adjusting aaeoaae opposite end of this rod 23 is threaded to 7 receive the nuts 25. These nuts, in the pres- 1 cut instance, are located above -the upper surface of the ballast so that when the gage of the track needs to be altered the nuts on both the bolts and rods can be adjusted without interfering with the ballast.

When it i necessary to raise either one of the rails, all. that is necessary is to draw the spikes that secure the plates 5 to the wedges 4 and then drive the wedges until the rail is at the height desired. ,Then the spikes are. driven again soas to secure the plates to the wedges. It will be noticed that the plates ,haveribs at each'side which engage the base flange of the rail and hold the plate and the wedge against longitudinal movement. i I

.When the wedge has been driven up its lengthand further hard service causes subsidence of the ballast, the wedge is withdrawn and a small amount of broken stone is thrown on the bed of the wedge and the as a cross tie to which both rails are rigidly secured, and I substitute for this he a substantial bar having anchors at both sides, which i embedded in the ballast and which is attachedindependently to the two rai s. I

In some instances, the rods 20 may be attached to the same anchors as the bar, 6, but, inthe main views of the drawings, I

have illustrated independent anchors.

In Figs. 7 and 8, I have illustrated amodification in which lengths of a central T-shaped bar 26 extend throughout the length of the track, midway between the rails 3, and the anchor bars 6 are secured to this bar and the T-bar becomes the equivalent of the coupling member 12, shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Hook bolts 15 connect this T-bar '26 with the rails, as clearly shown in Figs. 7 and 8. In this instance, there are two longitudinal anchor plates 9 extending one on each side of the track and embedded in the ballast, and the rods'6 are secured to these anchors. The rod 20 are also secured to the anchors.

In some instances, instead of using the construction illustrated in Fig. 6, a construction such as shown in Fig. 9 may be used, in which the coupling member 12 is made of two bent pieces, one shaped to conform to the bolt 15* and the other shaped to conform to the bar 16". The two pieces are secured together by a bolt 27.

In some of the claims, ,I have used the term ballast, meaning the ordinary stone ballast consisting of a, wmpacted mass of memes broken stone or compacted cla and like material, which is distinguishe from the ordinary separate ties or stringers ofconcrete.

In Fig. 10, I have shown a bar'6" extending from the T-bar 26 to an anchor 9 and the rods are attached to the bar 6 some distance from the anchor.

In some of the claims, I have used the term anchor in its broad sense to include the transverse bars and anchor plates, or their equivalents.

I claim:

1. The combination in a railway structure; of a ballast; anchors located in the ballast; supports for the rails mounted on the ballast; and means connecting the anchors with the rails.

2. The combination of a ballast; rails supported by the ballast; a series of anchors extending transversely within the ballast and under the rails; and means for attaching the rails to theanchors.

3. The combination of a ballast; a rail supported by the ballast; transverse bars embedded in the ballast and having anchor plates thereon; and means for connecting the rails with the anchor plates.

4. The combination in a ballast, of rails; means for supporting the rails on the ballast; a series of bars transversely arranged within the ballast and having anchor plates thereon; and means for engaging the outer flanges of the rails and secured to each bar.

5. The combination of a ballast; rails mounted on the ballast; a series of transverse bars embedded in the ballast and having anchor plates attached thereto and also embedded in the ballast; rods engaging the outer base flange of each rail and independently and adjustably secured to the bars so that the gage of the track can be regulated without disturbing the ballast.

6. The combination of a ballast; rails thereon supported by the ballast; a series of transverse bars embedded in the ballast and having anchors thereon; rods engaging the outer base flange of each rail and secured to each bar; and diagonally arranged anchor rods embedded in the ballast and engaging the inner base flange of the rails.

7. The combination of a ballast; wedges mounted on the ballast; rails supported by the wedges; anchors located in the ballast;

and means connecting the anchors to the rails.

8. The combination of a ballast having oppositely inclined surfaces; wedges mounted on these inclined surfaces; rails supported by the wedges; and anchors located in the ballast and secured to the rails independently of the wedges.

9. The combination of a ballast having an inclined surface at each side; wedges mounted on the ballast;-plates mounted on the wedges and detachably secured thereto; rails supported by the plates; a series of transverse bars having anchor plates at each end; said anchor plates being located in the ballast under the wedges; and means for attaching the rails to the bars.

10. The combination of a ballast having an inclined surface at each side; a series of wedges mounted on each surface'of the ballast; rails supported by the wedges and a series of transverse bars; anchors on said bars, one set of anchors being at each end of each bar, the other set of anchors bein on the bars within the space between the rails; and means for independently connecting the rails with the bars.

an inclined surface at each side; a series of Wedges mounted on each surface; rails mounted on the wedges; a series of transversely arranged bars mounted in the ballast, the center portion of the bars being nearer the surface of the ballast than the outer portions; anchor plates on the end portions of the bars; coupling members on the center portion of each bar; and rods mounted in the coupling member and engaging the outer base flange of the rails.

12. The combination of a ballast having an inclined surface at each side; wedges mounted on the inclined portions of the ballast; rails mounted on the wedges; a series of tranverse anchor bars embedded in the ballast; said bars being nearer the surface at the center than at the ends; angular coupling members mounted on the bars on each side of the center of the tracka series of hooked rods adjustably secured team set of angular coupling members and engaging one rail, the other set of rods being adjustably connected to the other set of angular members and engaging the other rail.

13. The combination of a ballast having an inclined surface at each side; wedges mounted on the inclined surfaces; rails carried by the wedges; a series of transverse.

bars in the ballast and having anchor plates; also mounted in the ballast; coupling members on each side of the center of the track; rods connecting the coupling members with the outer base flanges of the rails; and anchor rods diagonally arranged within the .ballast beyond the track and having adjust- 15. The combination of a ballast having an inclined surface at each side; a coatin of water-proofing material apphed to, sai surface; a series of wedges mounted on the inclined surfaces; rails carried by the wedges; and a series of transverse anchors embedded in the ballast and connected to the rails independently of the wedges 16. The combination of a ballast having a horizontal central surface and an inclined surface at each side of the center, the upper surface of the ballast being covered w1th water-proofing material; a series of wedges mounted on each inclined portion of the ballast; a series of transverse anchors located in the ballast; and means connecting the rails with the ballast so that the lateral strains will be taken directly by the ballast through the anchors, while the weight will be taken by the ballast throu h the wedges.

17. The combination of a allast; means for supporting the rails on the ballast; a series of transverse bars embedded in the ballast and having anchor plates at each side, also embedded in the ballast; and means income for coupling the bars to the rails, the anchor plates extending under the means for wed es mounted on the inclined surfaces of the allast; rails supported by the wedges;

a series of transverse anchor bars embedded in the ballast and having anchors at each end, the center portion of the bars bein nearer the upper surface of the ballast than the end portions thereof, each bar being bent to form a shoulder.

1 The combination of a ballast having an inclined surface at each side; a series of wedges; rails mounted on the wedges; a series of transverse bars formin anchors and embedded in the ballast; coup ing members mounted onthe bars; hooked rods engagin the outer base flange of each rail and exten ing through the couplin members; and insulating material located etween the rods and the coupling members.

In witness-whereof I affix my signature.

RUFUS WAPLES. 

